Thursday, July 22, 2010

THE UTILITY TRAILER PROJECT IS NEARING COMPLETION

STRANGERS ON A PIER

We're starting to come down the home stretch on the utility trailer project. Bruce measured & cut the 3 side panels today & tomorrow morning I'll get some paint on them. Once the tail lights are re-wired the trailer should be roadworthy & ready to go again.

HANDYMAN & HELPFUL NEIGHBOR BRUCE MEASURES UP, CUTS & FITS THE PANELS

Had to slip into work this morning for an hour to attend a meeting on workplace violence & how to handle rowdy Seniors. (just kidding:)) Aside from the elderly lady grabbing a hold of my beard 2 years ago I haven't sustained any serious injuries on the job. As a matter of fact, nor has any of the other drivers. That's the nice thing about working with Seniors, they are just not a violent bunch of folks. Maybe a little grumpy sometimes but they are not apt to haul off & kick ya in the head or anything like that. In fact, on some days, I can easily out-grump anyone & I'm a whole lot younger than most of the folks I work with!!

I THINK THE JEEP WILL FIT RATHER NICELY BEHIND THE MOTOR HOME & NOTICE HOW CLOSELY ONE OF THE RIG'S STRIPED GRAPHICS LUCKILY MATCHES THE COLOR OF THE JEEP

Want to thank all the folks for the nice comments & compliments regarding my blog & photos. I can assure you they are all very much appreciated & mean a lot to a feller who has suffered with low self esteem, confidence & self assurance issues all his life. You people have been a great help to me. And, would you believe, I have saved all those 2,808 comments over the past couple of years too. I have them safely tucked away in a file on my Hotmail account & can easily retrieve them at any time when one of those down in the dumps days come along & I'm in need of a little self assurance. And, those days do come along.

Now, to answer a few questions on some recent photos I have posted in the blog. The hummingbird pics were taken in our front yard beside the little frog pond. I used my Nikon D50 coupled with a 55-200mm lens & also used my D40 coupled with my 700mm telescope lens. Took me 9 shots to get the 2 that I included in last night's post. I will include a few of the one's I chose not to publish.

The close up of the Hummingbird was done with my tri-pod mounted Nikon D40 coupled with my 700mm telescope lens. 1/640th of a second shutter speed. Manual focus with no aperture setting available. With that lens I have to guess at the exposures. ISO 800. Also, another tip.......I had noticed this Hummer returning to the same flower a few times earlier so I set up my camera, pre-focused & determined the correct exposure by firing 3 or 4 test shots on the flower itself & then waited for the Hummer to fly into the frame. All's I had to do then was hit the firing button. Trying to follow the Hummer around in flight is just about impossible. Kinda like trying to photograph Bats at night. I haven't been successful at that one yet.

HAPPY TRAILS commented last night with a few photo inquiries & one of the questions was, "Your pics are soft and very warm to the eye. How do you do it? Well, there are a number of contributing factors. Time of day is the big one with early morning & evening light being much softer than the harsh contrasts of a sunny high noon day. The Hummingbird photos were done on a bright, but tree filtered sunny afternoon. There was shade in the front yard but it wasn't too dark so the lighting was on the soft side with many flowers & plants diffusing any direct sunlight. By using a telephoto lens the depth of field is very narrow meaning everything in front of & behind the Hummer is going to be out of focus giving the background a soft fuzzy look. Those orange splotches you see in the background are 'out of focus' day lilies. Also want to mention Picasa 3 here as well. The Picasa photo editing program is all important to the finished photo product with it's many tools for softening, tinting, cropping, coloring correcting & sharpening, etc. Many 'throw away' photos can be saved by creatively using Picasa. If you don't have it.....go get it. It's free & it's easy to use:)) PICASA PHOTO EDITING PROGRAM It's the only photo program I edit my pictures with:))

That JERRY feller down there in that Arizona Benson town has been having trouble scaring himself up a Roadrunner this summer for a photo shoot so I remembered a Roadrunner encounter we had early last November near Portal, Arizona. Here's that pesky & elusive little Roadrunner Jerry & if I see him again I'll send him over. I've made a slide show of the little critter as well. Click on 'Slide Show' when you get there. 'Meep Meep:))' (Nikon D40 & 200mm)

Well, I am taking a big chance tonight by including a photo album. Haven't done this since having 'Publishing' problems last winter in the Southwest when the albums wouldn't publish. Here goes...................................

GROANER'S CORNER:)) A young, pregnant RVer named Sally was involved in a traffic accident, but because she was riding in a sturdy Winnebago, she survived, although she was left in a coma. When she awoke a few days later in the hospital she was no longer pregnant! She asked her doctor, "What happened?" He replied, "Sally, you had twins -- a boy and a girl. Your brother named them for you." "Oh, no!" shrieked Sally. "Not my brother! His elevator doesn't go to the top floor, if you know what I mean!" The doctor replied, "Well, Sally, your brother named your daughter Denise." "Whew, that's not so bad," she replied, looking very relieved. Then, hesitantly, she asked, "What's the boy's name?" "Denephew," he said.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UN-AWAKENED"

I don't understand how anyone with your talents, sense of humor, intelligence, and you name it, could have a self-esteem problem. You are one terrific person, and don't forget it. Figure it out, there is a good reason why someone as smart and capable of Kelly chose you!

I began using the Picasa edit program on yours and Rick's recommendation. It is great. I can crop, use "feel lucky" and so on, but don't know what to do with the other options by the Sharpen tool. I use the Sharpen but am pretty lost on why the others would work. Did use the soft focus once and it was OK. I'm still playing around with it just haven't had much time lately. This fall I'll tackle some of the others and see what I can do.

Al,Thanks for answering my questions. I really didn't see worms in your pics... sorry for the mispell. All kidding aside, thanks. I haven't gotten down the shutter speed thing or the aperture yet, but I am working on it. Trying to understand the relationship between the two. I have a nikon 60 with 55-200, 15-55 and a 100-500 zoom. Your pics are always incredible and I can't wait for each new post with the pics and your events of the day.Many thanks again.Mike & Gerri

You know, my theory is that a lot of us bloggers are introverts with self esteem issues...well, I claim it for myself. Blogging is a way to express who I am and who I wish I could be all the time. Would you guess that I'm actually quiet until you get to know me well, and I stress out when I'm in social situations. How's that for bearing my soul!?! Maybe I should hit the hay before I let all the skeletons out :) Just wanted you to know you're not alone out there and I appreciated your raw honesty today...as usual.

Wow, al, you're the best! Thanks for the shout out to us, and thanks especially for the Road Runner pictures. I jumped right into your LW Photo Album, then couldn't figure out how to get out of it (I had hit F11 to go full screen). I thought maybe you had gotten me trapped in there, but I finally escaped. Gonna have to back down to Portal and try to find that critter!

OK Al, since you included the link, I'm finally going to make time this weekend to get Picasa. I know you and Rick rave about it, but I just haven't forced my self to install it yet. If it's as great as you two say, you'll have to watch out because I'll be trying to give you a little friendly competition in the photo department. :)

A person with your literary and photographic talents shouldn't have a self esteem issue! You rock! :)

Sooo glad to see the Jeepster making nice with the motorhome. I'm sure they will grow closer over the months on the road. You take the greatest photos...The ones you throw away are better than the ones I KEEP!! And hey, that little trailer needs some cool graphics or pinstriping, yea??

Hi there - I'm Brenna from the Picasa Team. I found your blog via Rick and Paulette's RV travels. You're posting some great bird shots! The hummingbird ones are fantastic.

Also, Chris Guld, a fellow RVer, photo enthusiast and Picasa user, co-hosted a webinar with us a while ago. It covers basic Picasa functionality, and I thought you guys might find the video to be helpful :)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hajN-4Rcc8

AL'S CAMERA EQUIPMENT

A sometimes asked question readers have about my blog is what kind of a camera do I use. Well I have 5 of them and use all 5.

'UPDATE':: July 2017 Thanks to a very generous blog reader I have been able to update my Nikon camera equipment and supplement my camera gear with a couple additional fine Sony cameras as well.I now have a Nikon D7200 sporting a new Nikkor 18-300 3.5 zoom lens. Also have picked up a new Nikkor 1.8 primary 35mm lens. In addition I also now have a Sony RX100-3 camera as well as a Sony Exmore Cybershot. I have given my Canon Powershot point and shoot camera to a neighbor.

- In early 2017 I replaced my Nikon D-90 camera with a new D-3400 after the 'auto focus' feature on my aging D-90 quit working. The Nikon D-90 had been my work horse camera sporting a Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens. I used this camera for most of my landscapes and I now have it set up for night photography where 'auto focus' is not necessary.

-My older faithful and favorite Nikon D-40 finally packed it in during the summer of 2015 and I replaced it with a new Nikon D-3100 which now carries my Nikkor 70-300mm 1:4.5-6.6 lens. I use this camera & lens for most of my candid people photos, birds, animals, bugs & flower close-ups.

- Previous to my Nikon D-90, most of my photos were taken with my old faithful Nikon D-50 from 2006 to early 2011 whereupon the D-50 suffered a rather gruesome death when it fell off a table onto a cement porch in southeastern Arizona. The 70-300mm lens on the camera survived the fall but the D-50 did not. My Nikkor lenses are interchangable between the D-90 the D-3100 and the D-3400.

-My Canon Powershot SX210iS is a point & shoot camera which I carry in a case on my belt everywhere I go.-My older Canon Powershot A720iS is the camera that sits close to my recliner for most of those doggy living room photos.